


a belated gift

by slafocka



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Betty is just shocked, Broken Up, Christmas, F/M, I promise it's good I just don't know how to tag, Jughead gives gift, day two of reindeergames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 16:04:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17247227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slafocka/pseuds/slafocka
Summary: Jughead had broken up with Betty three years ago, so what's up with the suddenMerry Christmastext?





	a belated gift

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt by lovely Elly (@VeryTrulyViolet) _we broke up almost three years ago but you message me out of the blue saying that my gift is finally done and you… you built me a house?_
> 
> It took me way longer than expected (and I am still think it could have been much better) but I hope you'll enjoy it!

Christmas always used to Betty’s favourite time of the year - getting to decorate everything with funny themed decorations, putting up fairy lights all around the house, seeing the big snowflakes falling down, slowly covering everything with a white blanket. But those times are long gone now.

 

She is a different person now - one whose memory of this time of the year, of the most wonderful time of year, had been tarnished three years ago.

 

She didn’t blame him. Well, she didn’t blame him anymore. At first, she couldn’t wrap her mind around why he would break up with her. Especially when her favourite time of year was coming around and he knew it very well. But as the time passed, she grew to understand.

 

It took her a year to come to terms with the break-up. The fact that they frequently saw each other in school wasn’t helping, and when he transferred to Southside High 6 moths later, she finally felt like she could breathe again. Of course, not seeing him everyday hurt in a completely different way - but it allowed her to start healing, and wasn’t that the most important thing?

 

The second year was all about understanding. She couldn’t count how many times she heard Veronica or Kevin beg her to let this whole thing go -she just couldn’t. She couldn’t move on without properly understanding what led him to that decision, why he chose to abandon her. Why he gave up on her. But she never understood - never could figure out what he valued more than their _I love yous._

 

So, the third Christmas after their break-up, she decided to listen to her friends and do exactly what she should have done all those years ago - move on. There was nothing she could do about what happened, there was nothing she could do to turn things back. She needed to move on, to stop mopping around because of a failed first love. She needed to start looking forward, into the future, because she would get nowhere if she continued to be stuck in the past.

 

And she really wanted to do just that - to move on. To forget all about the beanie-wearing boy who broke her heart. Who was her first love. Who haunted her dreams for past three years.

 

Well, that was until his name appeared on her phone’s screen at 2 am. On the Christmas Eve.

 

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _I hope this is still your number_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _And I finally finished my gift for you_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _This is Jughead btw_

 

 

Betty read those four messages over and over again, until the letters became blurry. She blinked few times to make her eyes focus, when she realised that it were tears that clouded her vision.

 

Her mind was running thousand miles per hour, trying to figure out all of her options. She could just delete those messages and go back to bed, acting like it never happened. Or she could text him that he’s got a wrong number, pretending that she changed it a long time ago. Or she could answer him normally, hearing out what he had to say.

 

Before she could make a decision, three little dots appeared by his icon, signalising that he was writing.

 

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _You know I can see that you read those messages, right?_

 

 

Betty quickly exited the app and threw her phone as far away as she could.

 

She wasn’t ready to deal with this. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. She just wanted to move on with her life, she really wanted nothing more. Why couldn’t he just let her do that?

 

She slowly laid down on her back, staring emptily at the ceiling. Hot tears rolled down her face; she just quickly wiped them away, not wanting to admit to herself that she was crying. He had no right to have this kind of power over her - it was just unfair.

 

An uncertain amount of time has passed - Betty wasn’t thinking about anything. Or at least, she was trying not to think about anything. Not to let her mind wonder to those deep blue eyes that always reminded her of a wild sea. Or to his hands, to his touch, that always calmed her nerves. Or to his perfectly soft lips whose touch she could still feel on her own, as if it was only yesterday when they last connected.

 

But she wasn’t strong enough - nothing she did to distract herself worked, not even breaking the skin of her palms with her nails - a habit she hadn’t felt the need to do in a very long time.

 

Deep in her mind, she knew that there was only one thing she could do to stop it. It didn’t matter how much she didn’t want to see him, how much the thought of him made her heart break and knees shake - she needed to do it. Hopefully it would offer her some kind of closure. And closure sounded really tempting after all those years of pain and suffering.

 

So she reached for her phone, to find a couple more texts from him.

 

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _I am sorry_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _I shouldn’t have just texted you like that_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _Could we meet?_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _Please?_

 

**_Jughead:_ ** _Betty? Are you here?_

 

 

She took in a deep breath, forcing her fingers to move on the keyboard and form a reply.

 

 

**_Betty:_ ** _sure, where?_

 

 

An answer with an address came immediately.

 

 

—————

 

 

Betty got out of her trusty Mini Cooper exactly an hour after receiving the first message. She found herself in front of a house she didn’t recognise - although it was on the Southside, it looked like it would fit on the other side of the city much easier.

 

 _Does Jughead live here?_ was the first thought that ran through her mind as she scanned the house for any signs of life. All of the windows were dark, except for one by the door - from what she could see, it looked like it was a living room.

 

She slowly approached the door - overthinking every step she took. _Was she making a right decision? Shouldn’t she just go back to her bed and forget everything that happened in the last hour?_ She wished she could - but she knew very well that it wasn’t an option. There was no way she could just turn back now, not without getting at least some answers.

 

She took three deep breaths before raising her hand to knock on the wooden door - but before her fist hit the surface, the door sprung open.

 

The fist thing that crossed her mind was that he hadn’t changed one bit.

 

He still (unsuccessfully) tried to tame his messy black hair by the crown-shaped beanie.

 

The bags under his eyes were still there - even more visible than they were all those years ago.

 

A flannel was still tied around his waist, as if the piece of clothing was just an accessory, not an actual jacket.

 

His eyes were still as deep as she remembered them, but probably more mysterious than ever before.

 

And the lips… Pink and kissable.

 

Nothing has changed.

 

“Hi,” he whispered.

 

It shocked her, hearing the sound of his voice again. Somehow, it also hadn’t changed, but at the same time, it sounded more mature and deeper. She wanted him to speak more, just so she could listen to it and let him sooth her soul with his words, in a way no-one else but him could,

 

“Hey,” she whispered back, after remembering that it was polite to answer. Maybe growing up in Alice Cooper’s house wasn’t the worst thing ever after all.

 

“You wanna come in?” he asked, voice sounding a bit more strangled than it was a second before. Or maybe she just imagined that, because how could she judge it from just one sentence?

 

She nodded and he opened the door wider - wide enough, to allow her to enter without having to push herself by him.

 

“The living room is this way,” he motioned towards one of the doors.

 

The house was nice not only on the outside but also on the inside. The walls were mainly white, with exposed bricks and ebony floors. It looked modern and exactly like she would imagine her dream house to be - she wondered if he bought it that way or if it was all his work.

 

The living room was simple - mostly styled in black and white except for a comfortable-looking blue sofa. She cautiously sat down on it while Jughead took residence in one of the grey armchairs.

 

“You’ve got a nice place,” Betty said as a way to break the awkward silence.

 

“Thanks,” he mumbled, “Fred really helped with making my vision come to life.”

 

Oh, so he build it. Okay, it was totally cool. She was super cool with the fact that the from what she had seen so far, it looked exactly like her dream house. As well as she was totally cool with the fact that she remembered telling him about all of her ideas for the design. _Totally cool, not freaking out at all._

 

“Cool,” was all she managed to get out of herself.

 

And the awkward silence was there again - it made her shiver. They had been friends since before she could remember and she couldn’t think of a time when the silence between them was uncomfortable. It was always pleasant - she always used to feel like they didn’t have to talk - they could easily communicate without words. But apparently, those times were long gone.

 

“I am sorry I texted you this late,” he finally said, “you didn’t have to come immediately. I just- I worked really hard on this and I wanted to give it to you.” He looked deeply to Betty’s eyes, as if he was looking for some kind of permission to continue. “Because you deserve it.”

 

_What was he talking about? It couldn’t be the house… right? That would be too extra, even for him._

 

He got up from the armchair, probably too nervous to be able to sit in a place.

 

“It took me almost three years to finish this,” he said slowly, voice clearly showing that he was thinking carefully about every word, “I know there is nothing I could do to make up for the last three years - and I am not trying to. But I still care about you and I want you to have this.”

 

A look of puzzlement spread through Betty’s face as he picked up a box covered in blue-and-white wrapping paper with a huge blue bow and offered it to her.

 

_Okay, she can do this, the gift certainly isn’t the house, she can calm down now._

 

“You don’t have to open it now,” he said as she smoothed the paper with her hand, “actually, I don’t want you to open it now. I don’t want you to be under pressure or anything, which you clearly are right now.”

 

They might have been broken up for three years, but he apparently still could read her as if she was an open book. Some things probably never change.

 

“Thanks,” Betty whispered. She paused for a second, before continuing, “I don’t have anything for you.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, a small smile appearing on his lips.

 

The awkward silence took over the room once again. Betty wasn’t quite sure what to do - he said he didn’t want her to open it now, but her fingers itched to tear down the paper wrapping, to see what was inside. She wasn’t sure what to say either - what do you say to your ex-boyfriend? More than anything she wanted to ask him why he broke up with her; she craved the explanations, she needed it like she needed air. But at the same time, it felt somehow inappropriate. So she stayed silently staring on gift in her hands, waiting for him to make a first move.

 

But he didn’t do anything either - maybe he was too afraid. Or maybe he was waiting for her to say something, to do something.

 

She wasn’t sure how much time passed while they were sitting like that and she wasn’t sure how much longer they would have stayed like that. But when she saw Jughead trying to suppress a yawn, she decided it was her cue to leave.

 

“I think I should get going,” her words broke the eerie silence. He just nodded, but the empty stare in his face didn’t persuade Betty that he heard her words. So when she got up and headed for the exit, she was surprised to find Jughead following her.

 

She stopped on the doorstep, unsure of what to do now. Hug seemed a little too much, but at the same time, she would give up everything to hold him for one more second.

 

“Thank you. For coming,” he whispered. His lips jerked upwards, but it didn’t mask the sadness in his voice. “For accepting this.”

 

He motioned with his hand towards to gift she was firmly holding in her left hand.

 

“Yeah,” she just murmured.

 

She wanted to say so much more - ask him why he decided to give her a gift now, after all those years; scream at him because he left her; cry in his arms because she had missed him. But she did none of those things - instead, she slowly reached up to stroke his cheek with her fingers. Just this one small touch, she didn’t need more.

 

And then she turned away, not being able to bear the sight of a sadness in his eyes, which seeped right from his soul.

 

She didn’t go far - she just drove down few streets, until she found herself at the parking lot of Pop’s. The journey home would take her too much time; time she didn’t have. Even though the content of the gift scared the hell out of her, she just couldn’t wait anymore.

 

She gently started peeling of the wrapping paper, carefully, she didn’t want to tear it any more than she needed. It was wrapped nicely, he clearly tried his hardest to make it look good.

 

Inside, was a box - she expected that from the shape of the gift. She lightly shook it, trying to guess what was inside, but she came out empty-handed - she didn’t hear any noise that would give away the contents.

 

She took two deep breaths to calm her heart, before she opened the box.

 

Betty didn’t make any expectations - mainly because she knew Jughead. She knew he was crazy and extra and that there was no way she could predict what the gift was.

 

But she certainly didn’t expect this.

 

From the box, there was a book starring back at her. It had a minimalistic cover - all matte black with just few words printed on in glossy white ink.

 

 

_The bitterness of Sweetwater_

 

_by J. J. III_

 

 

Her breathing became more shallow immediately - a wave of pride swept over her whole body like a tsunami. He did it, he published a book, he achieved his lifelong dream. She could just stare at the cover forever and feel nothing but happiness for him, but her fingers itched to read what’s in it.

 

She remembered, back when they were dating, when they were investigating Jason’s murder, he was writing all of it down. A new _In Cold Blood_ , he always said. Was this it?

 

She opened the book, eager to start reading. So eager, she almost skipped the dedication page.

 

There, only two lines were printed, centred precisely in the middle of the page.

 

 

_It’s all for you;_

_then, now, always._

 

 

Betty’s heartbeat quickened, as if the heart was trying to jump out of her chest and fall straight into her hands - or maybe rather into the open book she was holding.

 

She knew it wasn’t overthinking or reaching; she didn’t need her name written on the page; she just knew it. She knew it was for her.

 

But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to linger on that now, if she wanted to allow her heart to feel that ache. She would much rather dive into the countless words that covered every page of the book, devouring every single one of them.

 

And so she sat there in the parking lot of Pop’s, soft neon glow from its sign providing her with just enough light to see, taking in the pages as if her life depended on it.

 

She read until the rising sun took over as her source of light instead of neon glow of the diner’s sign; she read until the quietness and peacefulness of the night was replaced by morning chatter of people arriving to Pop’s for breakfast. She read until her eyes felt as dry and rough as sanding paper from tiredness; and then until tears filled them up to ease the pain of every blink.

 

She read until there were no more pages left, until she soaked in every single word he had written. And even then, she wanted nothing more than just curl up in her bed and reread every page, every line, every word once again.

 

To feel all the emotions pulsing in her veins once again.

 

But she didn’t do that - instead, she started up the car and headed towards the only place she could go now, after reading all of that. The Sweetwater River.

 

It was the place where it all started - at least that’s what he wrote in his book. That it was Jason Blossom’s murder that drew them together, that he was the reason they fell in love. Which could not have been further from truth, but that’s how he saw the story.

 

Betty didn’t need to see his car parked by the end of the road, nor she needed to see his footprints pressed into the fresh snow to know that he was waiting there for her. She just felt it. In her heart.

 

There he was, standing by the river, staring into the nothingness of its water.

 

“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said without turning around to look at her.

 

Betty stopped to stand right next to him. Just one quick glance revealed everything she already suspected - the dark circles underneath his eyes revealed his lack of sleep and the redness of his nose could one imply that he had been waiting for her for a while already.

 

“How could I not,” she sighed. Her sight dropped from his exhausted face towards the book she was holding in her hands. “Juggie, tell me, how could I not come?”

 

“I guess you couldn’t,” he shrugged and slowly turned to face her, “so I take it you liked it?” He tried to remain neutral, but a tint of hopefulness escaped his throat with the last word.

 

_Did she?_

 

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted. The book was well-written - it was riveting, breath-catching and heart-breaking. Even though she lived it, she couldn’t put the it down. He always had a way with words; once he started telling a story, everything else suddenly ceased to exist. It was only him and his story.

 

“Well, I am glad you -”

 

“But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s completely wrong,” she interrupted him mid-sentence.

 

His eyebrows immediately shot up and his jaw dropped a little in surprise. “What?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

The surprised look didn’t leave his face, so Betty got to explaining.

 

“First of all - I have no idea who edited this for you, but the abundance of semicolons and dashes is making me want to cry. Seriously Jug, you have a problem,” she chuckled, which made a small smile appear on his lips as well.

 

“Betty Cooper, always the editor-in-chief.” The reminiscing tone of his voice flooded her mind with memories of the two of them, spending countless hours in the Blue and Gold office, writing articulate articles about pointless topics.

 

“There are things you can’t outrun, I guess,” she just shrugged. _Like their relationship,_ she thought to herself, but rather chose to not continue with this topic anymore.

 

“But secondly and much more importantly,” Betty continued with a straight face and shivering tone, “this is not what happened.”

 

And there it was, the look of surprise once again.

 

“What do you mean, that’s not what happened? Jason Blossom was murdered by his father, you uncovered that, remember?” Jughead asked. His confusion was literally beaming out of him; one could probably see it all the way to Riverdale.

 

“Not that part, silly,” Betty said, with a little laugh escaping her mouth, “I mean the parts about _us_.”

 

The silence fell over them immediately.

 

The whole world seemed to slow down as their eyes met; both of them full of unsaid words from many moons ago. Both full of despair, both full of regrets.

 

“What do you mean?” he said slowly, pushing the words out of his throat as if it was made of a sandpaper and every vowel brought him immense amount of pain.

 

“Let me show you,” Betty whispered, quickly grazing the book pages with her fingers, looking for the right one.

 

“ _The loner weirdo looked across the crime scene at the girl-next-door as if for the very first time. That moment allowed feelings that have long been buried inside her to shake loose and reemerge once again._ ” Betty read out a passage from his book with a deep voice, trying to match it as closely to his as possible. “You think that was when my feelings for you _shook loose_? Seriously Jug? How come you’ve been so blind to all of my hints during all the years prior?”

 

He opened his mouth to say something, but she interrupted him with her vigorous turning of the pages as she looked for another set of lines.

 

“ _The boy shyly climbed the ladder leading into the pretty pink room, to look for the missing piece of his soul. And he found it - placed gently on top of the blonde’s lips, tasting of strawberries and honey. But she never gave it a second thought - she gave it to the dead redhead instead._ ” Betty scoffed at that part - did he really think that Jason was all that was on her mind while kissing him? That she would rather think about a cold corpse of somebody she didn’t know than think about the warmth and security of his touch?

 

“What’s wrong with that? If I recall correctly, the exact words you have shouted after the kiss were _the car!_ ” he objected.

 

“Jug, I didn’t think about that while I was kissing you; I wasn’t thinking at all. My mind cleared out completely, all of the noise stopped, I felt nothing but peace and happiness in that moment. It was when you pulled away - that’s when all my thoughts came flooding back in. _After_ , not _during_.”

 

She never thought about that twice, never thought that it might have bothered him. She always just assumed that he understood, only now to see that she couldn’t have been further from the truth.

 

He didn’t reply, just lowered his gaze to stare at his black boots covered with small snowflakes, as if that was suddenly the most interesting thing at the whole world. When Betty realised he wasn’t going to say anything, she flipped the pages once again, looking for another passage that made her heart sink while reading it.

 

“ _In a way, her golden locks always reminded him of rays of sunshine. They brought him warmth, they brought him happiness and most importantly they brought him light. They were epitome of everything good in this world - no,_ she _was the epitome. But you how the saying goes - it simply was too good to be true. The love they had him made his knees melt, heart flutter and head spin. The boy could never think clearly when he was around her - everything was always clouded by her light. It was like trying to see on a hot summer day - the longer you squished your eyes to try to make out the picture in front of you, the more your head ached. Her shine was simply eternal - who was I, a mere mortal, to try to tame it?”_ Betty read out of the book, trying her hardest not to allow her voice to crack.

 

He didn’t say anything, just continued to stare at his feet, so Betty shut the book with a loud slap.

 

“Jug, why did you break up with me?”

 

She needed to know.

 

She tried getting over him - she really tried. She wasted three years of her life hoping that one day she would wake up and not give a crap about him anymore. That her heart wouldn’t ache at every memory of him and that she would finally find peace. She gave up on getting answers long time ago, but now, after reading the book he wrote, which genre she could only describe as _love declarations with some murder thrown in here and there_ , she just couldn’t stay away.

 

“You are holding it in your hands,” Jughead whispered, finally moving his eyes away from the ground, now piercing the black book she held tightly.

 

“No,” she shook her head, “this isn’t why you broke up with me. This is why you _loved_ me.”

 

She stepped towards him, close enough to be able to place her palm on his cheek and lift his face so she could look him in the eyes.

 

“Jug, why did you break up with me?” she asked again, this time barely whispering.

 

“To be honest, I don’t think I was ready for you,” he admitted with small voice, “you always radiated with positivity and happiness and all those years ago I was a broken weirdo who had never been shown love before. I didn’t know what to do with all of those feelings other than push them away. I am sorry it took me so long to understand - I truly apologise. I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way Betts - I just needed time to sort things out. To figure out I was worthy of your love.” He paused to take a deep breath, one he hadn’t taken since he started talking.

 

“What do you -”

 

“Let me finish. I know it took me too long - I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want me anymore. I would understand, I know it would be selfish from me to expect you’d sit around and wait for me when it was me who broke up with you. But I can see clearly now and you are _it_ for me. Always was, always will be. This is probably going to be too much, but is there any chance we could try again?”

 

If she was being honest with herself, she wanted nothing more than to be with him once again. The times they were together were the happiest ones of her life and she would give anything up to go back. But this wasn’t going back. This was starting again and as much as she would love to forget the past 3 years of her life, the years without him, she just couldn’t. She couldn’t just erase the emptiness that was left in her after he decided to leave her without a proper explanation.

 

But what if she could fill that emptiness?

 

She looked into his deep blue eyes and suddenly there was no doubt in her mind - she missed him _too_ _much_.

 

“Let’s go for coffee,” she offered with a small smile forming on her lips, “we have a lot of catching up to do.”

 

A smile immediately appeared not only on Jughead’s lips but also in his eyes and presumably in his heart as well.

**Author's Note:**

> so... what do y'all think? leave it in comments below, I can't wait to hear (read) all of it!
> 
> find me on tumblr: catthecoder


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